Obama Pushes for Immigration Reform

The president of the United States has proposed regulation for more than 11 million illegal immigrants. The new law has as many detractors among Democrats as Republicans.

Yesterday in Washington, D.C., Barack Obama defended the necessity for an immigration law, while the mother of a marine killed in Iraq asked for permission to bury her son in Arizona and for a postponement of her deportation so that she could attend the burial. This is the daily reality in this nation of immigrants. And that is the reality the president has proposed to stand up to with a reform that, without rewarding undocumented persons, will “create a pathway for legal status” with respect to their human rights, and in the interests of prosperity, nobility and the preservation of American values.

Expelling immigrants from this country, regardless of how illegal they are, is as paradoxical and useless as prohibiting hope. The United States has become a greater power in the world thanks to the irresistible magnetism of its society, summarized in the slogan of the American dream. “Immigrants have always helped to build and defend this country,” Obama stated. “Being an American is not a matter of blood or birth. It’s a matter of faith. It’s a matter of fidelity to the shared values that we all hold so dear.”

For the illegals, whose numbers have been calculated to be between 11 and 12 million, their crime is that of rushing into this dream without stopping for bureaucracy. Now that they are here, their economic and cultural contributions are indispensable, and as the president said, attempting to deport them is unfeasible. Many illegals have children who were born here, others have been working at their jobs for years, and the majority respect the law, are integrated into their communities and even pay taxes.

The only solution is the passage of a new law that would map out rules for their legalization, so it would take place in a suitable fashion and in conditions that allow long-term reorganization for the entrance of more people into the country. Obama stated that legalization, “also means we have a younger workforce — and a faster-growing economy — than many of our competitors. And in an increasingly interconnected world, the diversity of our country is a powerful advantage in global competition.”

The president explained that the wager for an open and hospitable country does not mean an end to protecting the borders or enforcing the law. “Our nation, like all nations, has the right and obligation to control its borders and set laws for residency and citizenship.” And that “an indiscriminate approach… could lead to a surge in more illegal immigration. And it would also ignore the millions of people around the world who are waiting in line to come here legally.”

It is necessary to create demanding conditions for legalization. “We have to demand responsibility from people living here illegally,” Obama said. “They must be required to admit that they broke the law. They should be required to register, pay their taxes, pay a fine and learn English.” He adds that, “businesses must be held accountable if they break the law by deliberately hiring and exploiting undocumented workers.”

This is the path to the rationalization of a massive problem, which will be the heart of the law that Congress must pass. When? Obama, who had promised to do it earlier this year, didn’t put any deadlines in place yesterday. How? Through the agreement of both parties. There is no other way. “That is the political and mathematical reality,” the president admitted.

The Democrats lack enough of a majority to pass the law in the Senate, and even they are not united in support of the initiative. In contrast to what happened with the health or financial reforms, where immigration is concerned, a clean cut between the two sides in Congress is unforeseeable; there could be many Democrats against and some Republicans for the reform.

The political position of immigration reform depends on some changes, like the number of Hispanic voters, the geographical situation of the electoral district or the degree of pressure on the conservative sector, which make it more fluid and unpredictable than others. But the most important of all of these is the growing influence of the Latino electorate, which Obama now intends to realign in his favor.

As the White House has recognized, the president decided to deliver this important speech in response to the intensification of public debate provoked by the recent law passed by the state of Arizona, which criminalizes illegal immigrants. Obama did not clear up the mystery of when the government plans to bring the unconstitutionality of this law before a tribunal, but he referred to it in indisputably discrediting terms. “These laws,” he stated, “also have the potential of violating the rights of innocent American citizens and legal residents, making them subject to possible stops or questioning because of what they look like or how they sound.”

None of this is compatible with the spirit of the United States. As Obama reminds us, this country is universally known for a statue that welcomes, in the name of liberty, all who approach Manhattan Island. Decades before, some were Jews escaping persecution. Their place is taken today, for different reasons, by “wetbacks.”